Texas Rangers left fielder David Murphy, center, comes back to the dugout greeted by Elvis Andrus, left, and manager Ron Washington, after his second home run against the Detroit Tigers on June 27, 2012 at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

ARLINGTON — Well, would you look at that: Just two
starts into his career with the Rangers and Roy Oswalt is already tying club
records.

In Wednesday’s 13-9 win over Detroit, he matched a mark set by Nelson Briles
in 1977 and matched by Jon Matlack and Doc Medich in 1980. Since then, nobody
had managed to allow 13 hits and figure out how to still win a game. In fact,
only 17 times in the last 32 years had a Ranger pitcher managed to last long
enough to allow 13 hits, period.

It was the first time an AL pitcher allowed 13 hits and still got a win in
five years. Tampa Bay’s Jae-Weong Soo allowed 13 in a win over Seattle.

It certainly wasn’t the kind of record with which Oswalt wanted to be
associated.

“Sometimes I get in a habit of throwing too many strikes,” Oswalt said. “I
was trying to keep my pitch count down and go deep into the game. Yeah, I might
have gone a little overboard tonight.”

It was, however, a testament to that which the Rangers offense is
capable.

While Oswalt was doing his best to minimize the damage from the herd of
baserunners he allowed, most of the lineup was looking like it was starting to
emerge from a monthlong malaise. Most, but not all. Josh Hamilton struck out
four times and Nelson Cruz was 0-for-3.

For the rest of the offense, the last two games have been a Summer Fun
party.

After coming back from an early deficit Tuesday with aggressive baserunning
and clutch hitting in a four-run inning, the Rangers started slugging early on
Wednesday. They also took advantage of Detroit’s atrocious defense, which might
be sharper if played by actual tigers.

For example, there was the second inning, which began with back-to-back
singles by Adrian Beltre and Michael Young. Then Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera threw
away Nelson Cruz’s ground ball, allowing a run to score. David Murphy followed
with a three-run homer, the first of two homers he hit Wednesday.

“It was one of those nights when everything comes together,” said Murphy, who
went 4-for-5 and matched his career high with five RBIs. “It was impressive that
we showed an offensive effort from top to bottom. Very complete.”

Murphy’s second homer came with nobody on in the fourth after Detroit had cut
the lead to 4-2. The inning also included a two-run homer by Ian Kinsler. It
gave the Rangers their first three-homer game in a month. They don’t lose those
kinds of games. They are 11-0.

And on it went all night. While Oswalt — and later the bullpen — kept letting
the Tigers back into the game, Detroit’s abysmal fielding would erase the ground
gained.

“I’m not seeing what we’re capable of yet, but we’re getting there,” manager
Ron Washington said. “We’re going to keep grinding and keep battling. Tonight,
we needed all the runs we got. That’s what they’ve been doing all year. Whatever
we need, they’ve been doing it. I know we’ve still got some ways to go, but I’m
very pleased with what I’m seeing now.”

The final straw came in the eighth. The Rangers had a six-run lead and
decided to give rookie Martin Perez an easy initiation. He managed to slop it
up, and setup man Mike Adams allowed consecutive two-out run-scoring singles to
bring the Tigers within 11-9. Then Detroit took the field again. Kinsler led off
with a popup that neither shortstop Jhonny Peralta nor second baseman Ryan
Raburn saw. Raburn took an unsuccessful dive on it as it bounced on the edge of
the infield dirt. Kinsler ended up with an infield double.

Elvis Andrus bunted to Cabrera, who threw wide of first. When Raburn,
covering first, bobbled the ball, Kinsler kept on running and scored easily.
Beltre added a run-scoring double to put the game formally out of reach and the
Tigers out of their defensive misery.

Catch Evan Grant’s Ranger Reports all season on The Ticket (KTCK-AM 1310) at 2:35 p.m. Mondays with BaD Radio; 9:35 a.m. Tuesdays with The Musers and Wednesdays at 4:15 p.m. with The Hardline.

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